The Top 25 Life and Biological Sciences Articles of 2023

Top Articles

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  A global synthesis and assessment of free-ranging domestic cat diet

  Free-ranging domestic cats have major ecological impacts globally. Here, Lepczyk et al. compile records of the species consumed by cats, identifying thousands of species consumed, including hundreds of species that are of conservation concern.

  • Christopher A. Lepczyk
  • Jean E. Fantle-Lepczyk
  • John C. Z. Woinarski

  ArticleOpen Access12 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  The evolution of same-sex sexual behaviour in mammals

  There is still no consensus on the factors favouring the evolution of same-sex sexual behaviour in mammals. This study presents evidence that it is a widespread behaviour that has evolved repeatedly in mammals, and that may play an adaptive role in bonding and conflict resolution.

  • José M. Gómez
  • A. Gónzalez-Megías
  • M. Verdú

  ArticleOpen Access3 Oct 2023 Nature Communications
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  DNA damage and somatic mutations in mammalian cells after irradiation with a nail polish dryer

  Nail polish dryers commonly emit ultraviolet A (UVA) light, but the effects of this irradiation on mammalian cells remain unclear. Here, the authors examine the effects of UVA irradiation by a nail polish dryer on the genomes of mammalian cell lines, finding high levels of reactive oxygen species and related mutational signatures.

  • Maria Zhivagui
  • Areebah Hoda
  • Ludmil B. Alexandrov

  ArticleOpen Access17 Jan 2023 Nature Communications
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  Undiscovered bird extinctions obscure the true magnitude of human-driven extinction waves

  The true number of human-driven bird extinctions is likely larger than we think. Here, the authors combine recorded extinctions with estimates from the fossil record to suggest that ~1400 bird species have gone extinct since the Late Pleistocene.

  • Rob Cooke
  • Ferran Sayol
  • Søren Faurby

  ArticleOpen Access19 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  High resolution mapping of the tumor microenvironment using integrated single-cell, spatial and in situ analysis

  The integration of single-cell and spatial data can provide a more comprehensive picture of the network of cells within the tumour microenvironment. Here the authors use a combination of single-cell and spatial technologies including 10x Xenium to characterise serial formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded human breast cancer sections.

  • Amanda Janesick
  • Robert Shelansky
  • Sarah E. B. Taylor

  ArticleOpen Access19 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Crop rotation and native microbiome inoculation restore soil capacity to suppress a root disease

  Crop rotation helps preventing pathogen infestations compared to monocultures, which may be partly due to root-associated microbes. Here, the authors show that rhizosphere microbiomes in monocultures are less able to suppress fungal pathogens compared to crop rotations, and that inoculating certain microbes can mitigate it.

  • Yanyan Zhou
  • Zhen Yang
  • Xiaogang Li

  ArticleOpen Access8 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Structural basis for DNA proofreading

  Here, the authors use cryo-EM to capture nine intermediates along the DNA proofreading pathway using human mitochondrial DNA Polymerase Gamma. The results provide a step-by-step view of the DNA proofreading at single-nucleotide resolution.

  • Gina Buchel
  • Ashok R. Nayak
  • Dmitry Temiakov

  ArticleOpen Access27 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Targeted treatment of injured nestmates with antimicrobial compounds in an ant society

  Infected wounds pose a major mortality risk in animals and are common in predatory ants. Here, the authors show that M. analis ants apply antimicrobial compounds produced in the metapleural glands to treat infected wounds and reduce nestmate mortality.

  • Erik. T. Frank
  • Lucie Kesner
  • Laurent Keller

  ArticleOpen Access29 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Whole genomes from Angola and Mozambique inform about the origins and dispersals of major African migrations

  African human genome variation remains under-sampled. Here, the authors present a collection of 350 whole genome sequences from Angola and Mozambique and model the timing and extent of significant demographic events in African history.

  • Sam Tallman
  • Maria das Dores Sungo
  • Sandra Beleza

  ArticleOpen Access2 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  A unified Watson-Crick geometry drives transcription of six-letter expanded DNA alphabets by E. coli RNA polymerase

  Here the authors present the structural mechanism of recognition of unnatural nucleobases in a six-letter expanded genetic system by E. coli RNA polymerase, and provide structural evidence for tautomerization during transcription.

  • Juntaek Oh
  • Zelin Shan
  • Dong Wang

  ArticleOpen Access12 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Microbial interactions shape cheese flavour formation

  Cheese fermentation and flavour formation are the result of complex biochemical reactions driven by the activity of multiple microorganisms. Here, the authors identify microbial interactions as a mechanism underlying flavour formation in Cheddar cheese.

  • Chrats Melkonian
  • Francisco Zorrilla
  • Ahmad A. Zeidan

  ArticleOpen Access21 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Green leaf volatile sensory calcium transduction in Arabidopsis

  Plants sense volatiles emitted by injured neighboring plants and elicit defense responses to external threats. Here, the authors show that Arabidopsis leaves uptake two green leaf volatiles via stomata and trigger cytosolic Ca²⁺ defense signaling.

  • Yuri Aratani
  • Takuya Uemura
  • Masatsugu Toyota

  ArticleOpen Access17 Oct 2023 Nature Communications
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  Building synthetic chromosomes from natural DNA

  Building synthetic chromosomes from natural components is an unexplored alternative to de novo chromosome synthesis that may have many potential applications. In this paper, the authors report CReATiNG, a method for constructing synthetic chromosomes from natural components in yeast.

  • Alessandro L. V. Coradini
  • Christopher Ne Ville
  • Ian M. Ehrenreich

  ArticleOpen Access20 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Creating resistance to avian influenza infection through genome editing of the ANP32 gene family

  In chickens, influenza A virus relies on host protein ANP32A. Here the authors use CRISPR/Cas9 to generate homozygous gene edited chickens containing two ANP32A amino acid substitutions that prevent viral polymerase interaction.

  • Alewo Idoko-Akoh
  • Daniel H. Goldhill
  • Mike J. McGrew

  ArticleOpen Access10 Oct 2023 Nature Communications
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  RNA-based translation activators for targeted gene upregulation

  Many diseases are driven by the insufficient expression of critical genes, but few technologies are capable of rescuing these endogenous protein levels. Here, Cao et al. present an RNA-based technology that boosts protein production from endogenous mRNAs by upregulating their translation.

  • Yang Cao
  • Huachun Liu
  • Bryan C. Dickinson

  ArticleOpen Access26 Oct 2023 Nature Communications
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  Is Protein BLAST a thing of the past?

  Will protein structure search tools like AlphaFold replace protein sequence search with BLAST? We discuss the promises, using structure search for remote homology detection, and why protein BLAST, as the leading sequence search tool, should strive to incorporate structural information

  • Ali Al-Fatlawi
  • Martin Menzel
  • Michael Schroeder

  CommentOpen Access11 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  A biological camera that captures and stores images directly into DNA

  DNA data storage has gained recent interest due to the high information density of DNA. Here, the authors have developed a method to directly capture information in the form of light and encode it into DNA via bacteria, analogous to a digital camera.

  • Cheng Kai Lim
  • Jing Wui Yeoh
  • Chueh Loo Poh

  ArticleOpen Access3 Jul 2023 Nature Communications
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  The Helicobacter pylori Genome Project: insights into H. pylori population structure from analysis of a worldwide collection of complete genomes

  The bacterium Helicobacter pylori, often found in the human stomach, can be classified into distinct subpopulations associated with the geographic origin of the host. Here, the authors provide insights into H. pylori population structure by collecting over 1,000 clinical strains from 50 countries and generating and analyzing high-quality bacterial genome sequences.

  • Kaisa Thorell
  • Zilia Y. Muñoz-Ramírez
  • Charles S. Rabkin

  ArticleOpen Access11 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Robust mapping of spatiotemporal trajectories and cell–cell interactions in healthy and diseased tissues

  The integration of spatial, imaging, and sequencing information enables the mapping of cellular dynamics within a tissue. Here, authors show three algorithms in stLearn software to accurately reveal spatial trajectory, detect cell-cell interactions, and impute missing data.

  • Duy Pham
  • Xiao Tan
  • Quan H. Nguyen

  ArticleOpen Access25 Nov 2023 Nature Communications
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  TEQUILA-seq: a versatile and low-cost method for targeted long-read RNA sequencing

  The authors report TEQUILA-seq, a versatile, easy-to-implement, and low-cost method for targeted long-read RNA sequencing. TEQUILA-seq uncovers transcript isoforms and RNA mechanisms associated with human health and disease.

  • Feng Wang
  • Yang Xu
  • Lan Lin

  ArticleOpen Access8 Aug 2023 Nature Communications
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  Accurate prediction of protein folding mechanisms by simple structure-based statistical mechanical models

  Predicting how proteins fold into specific native structures remains challenging. Here, the authors develop a simple physical model that accurately predicts protein folding mechanisms, paving the way for solving the folding process component of the protein folding problem.

  • Koji Ooka
  • Munehito Arai

  ArticleOpen Access19 Oct 2023 Nature Communications
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  Diversification of flowering plants in space and time

  Global spatiotemporal patterns of plant diversification are unclear. Here, the authors use a genus-level phylogeny and global distribution data for 14,244 flowering plant genera, finding a negative correlation between spatial patterns of diversification and genus diversity.

  • Dimitar Dimitrov
  • Xiaoting Xu
  • Zhiheng Wang

  ArticleOpen Access22 Nov 2023 Nature Communications
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  Metallic micronutrients are associated with the structure and function of the soil microbiome

  Soil micronutrients may be important for belowground biota and associated functions. Here, the authors identify the relationships between metallic micronutrients and soil microbial communities and functions across 180 sites, and validate them in a soil incubation experiment.

  • Zhongmin Dai
  • Xu Guo
  • Jianming Xu

  ArticleOpen Access20 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Engineering artificial photosynthesis based on rhodopsin for CO₂ fixation

  Microbial rhodopsins are major contributors to global light harvesting on Earth, but their role in carbon fixation is unclear. Here, the authors construct an artificial photosynthesis system by combining rhodopsin with an extracellular electron uptake mechanism for photoelectrosynthetic CO₂ fixation in Ralstonia eutropha.

  • Weiming Tu
  • Jiabao Xu
  • Wei E. Huang

  ArticleOpen Access4 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Target-dependent RNA polymerase as universal platform for gene expression control in response to intracellular molecules

  Controlling gene expression in response to the intracellular molecule of interest is challenging. Here, the authors repurposed antibody variable regions to control gene expression in an inducible manner by combining them with a split RNA polymerase.

  • Shodai Komatsu
  • Hirohisa Ohno
  • Hirohide Saito

  ArticleOpen Access17 Nov 2023 Nature Communications